


Long Live the Dream

by ZoisiteMoon



Category: Original Work
Genre: Antichrist, Dream Demon, Gen, Magical Pregnancy, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-01-16 02:43:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21263786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoisiteMoon/pseuds/ZoisiteMoon
Summary: Remake of an English assignment I did for high school five years ago. When a woman finds herself plagued with nightmares and pregnant with the Antichrist, it's up to her and her friend to stop it from being born.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween, witches! This is the first time I'm uploading original fiction to Ao3. Hope you like!

Many years ago, there was a woman named Maria LaVey (no relation to Anton LaVey) who lived along the Everglades in Florida. Her life had been humble and, for the most part, uneventful. She had parents who did their utmost best to raise her as a productive member of society, she lived in a decent home where she got plenty to eat and plenty to wear, and was involved in a tight-knit social group that liked to hang out in and out of school. All in all, her life was a good one and she wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world.

One day, her life seemed to change for the better when she bought a lottery ticket at her local gas station/convenience store. She didn’t think much about why she was buying this lottery ticket and, honestly, no one else knew why she’d bought a lottery ticket, either. Maria wasn’t usually the kind of person to try to gamble with luck like this, especially with lottery tickets and scratchers. For the most part, she was content with what she had. For some reason, however, what she had wasn’t enough for her anymore.

On her way home, Maria stopped by her friend Erin’s house for a chat. She hadn’t talked to her friend in a week. She wondered if something had happened over the last week, whether it was joyous or tragic. She just had to find out. She knocked on the door and was surprised when she saw Erin open the door.

“Hey!” Maria exclaimed. “What’s happening?”

“Oh, not much,” Erin replied. “I’ve been busy for the last week.”

“Busy? Doing what?”

“Moving.”

“Moving? Moving... to where, exactly?”

Erin pulled out a map of the United States and pointed her finger to Hawaii. “To Hawaii... specifically, Honolulu.”

“Why Honolulu, though?”

“This guy I met online, Nate... he lives over in Honolulu. I’m moving all the way over there to be closer to him.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Erin. I’m not sure this is a good idea. You say you met this Nate guy online... how long have you known him?”

“A month.”

“A month? You’ve known him for a month and you’re only telling me about him now? Something doesn’t add up here.”

Erin thought about it for a minute. “Yeah, there does seem to be something off about him.” She then just shrugged her shoulders. “But who knows? It’s probably just nothing.”

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe he’s just a really nice guy who happens to come off as creepy, that’s all. You know what they say: ‘Never judge a book by its cover.’”

“Yeah. Anyway, I really need to get going with this packing. I’m supposed to be moving out of here in two days.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Time is of the essence. So then I guess I’ll see you later?”

“You know it. I’ll get in touch with you soon, I promise.”

“Alright, see you later. I need to get home.”

“Okay, take care.”

* * *

Once Maria was home, she got to work on the scratcher she’d picked up from the convenience store. She could feel her heart pounding from all the excitement, all the possibilities that could come about from this one little scratch card. It was a silly little gambling mechanism, but nevertheless, it was quite fun to play.

“Alright...” muttered Maria. “I wonder now...”

She scratched away at the first slot with the side of a quarter, then the second slot, then the third and last one... by God, she just couldn’t believe her luck. Three pots of gold in a row... it was miraculous. She’d never had that kind of luck. She couldn’t help but wonder if someone or something was setting her up for something far more grand than she could’ve ever imagined. It was tempting to think so, but as far as she could tell, there was no clear evidence that there was a god. Then again, there was no clear evidence that there wasn’t a god, either. Whatever. She was going to cherish this moment while she could.

The next day, the first thing she did when she woke up was cash in her scratcher at the convenience store. What happened next came as an absolute shock to her.

“Well, congratulations,” the checkout guy said. “You’re the first winner we’ve had for our ‘Pot o’ Gold’ scratcher!”

“Get out!” Maria exclaimed. “Seriously, I’m the first _winner_?”

“Yep. Pretty crazy, huh?”

“Yeah.” Maria chuckled. “I guess so. Life, uh, finds a way, I guess.”

“Yep.”

“So can I cash in now? I can’t wait to see how much money I’m going to get from this.”

“Oh, sure, no problem. Just give me the scratcher and I’ll have that cashed in for you. I’ll be right back.”

* * *

Wow. A million dollars. She still couldn’t believe it, even two months later. She wasn’t sure how she was going to spend all that money. She wanted to be responsible with it. After all the horror stories she’d heard about people who were once down on their luck winning the lottery and then ending up back where they started because they were irresponsible, she wanted to make sure she didn’t make those same mistakes. She had to choose wisely.

First, she’d spend some of those million dollars on going to Honolulu to see Erin and Nate. She wanted to make sure she’d see her friend again and meet Nate in person. She couldn’t tell if Nate was dangerous or not, but honestly, her parents were probably making a huge fuss over how everyone on the Internet was a murderer or whatever. Stuff like Craigslist killings tended to be more of an exception rather than the rule, but with the way the mainstream media covered them, people would be none the wiser.

Anyway, she was off to Honolulu now to see Erin and Nate. Hopefully, that feeling in her gut, that feeling that filled her with the sort of dread a parent would feel when they were given the news that their child had been killed in an accident... hopefully, that feeling was all for nothing.

The day her plane landed in Honolulu, that feeling she got about Nate stuck with her. It became more intense, almost like a second-degree burn, when she drew closer to her intended destination. Now she wasn’t sure what to make of it other than just a (hopefully misplaced) sense of paranoia. Sometimes, she was wrong about these things... like that time her parents found a stray dog who had been covered in battle scars and he turned out to be the sweetest thing in existence. Unfortunately, she couldn’t confirm that right now. She had to put aside that feeling that something sinister was afoot when she finally found Erin cozying up to a man that Maria could only assume was Nate.

“Oh, hey, Erin!” Maria greeted her friend.

“Maria!” Erin yelled out in glee. “I didn’t expect to see you here!”

“Well... here I am...” Maria just chuckled. “So, uh, funny story. After we had last talked two months ago, I won one million dollars from this scratcher I got at the convenience store. One million dollars, can you believe it?”

“You won one million dollars from a scratcher? That’s amazing!”

“I know, right? I’m starting to think there might be a god after all.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far.” Erin’s face perked up and she gestured towards the man next to her. “Oh, by the name, this is Nate.”

Maria had to take a very good look at him in order to see what exactly she was dealing with. He has ghastly pale skin that appeared to be the same color as a piece of printer paper, straight black hair that covered one eye, and the most stunning brown eyes. These brown eyes, theoretically, could pierce right into her soul and gaze beyond that to the inner workings of the universe itself. Must have been some damn eyes to give her that feeling.

“’Sup?” Nate just uttered.

“So, uh, you and Erin seem to... _really_ be in love, huh?”

“Yep.”

“Can you tell me where you guys met, perhaps?”

“Internet.”

“Uh, can you tell me _where_ on the Internet you guys met?”

“Nah, don’t feel like it.”

“Okay, suit yourself.”

Maria then just sat down next to Erin, For the next few minutes, she just stared straight ahead, thinking about how strange and private Nate was. Now why was that? What would he even need to keep private about himself or how he met Erin? She wanted to find out. The question was... should she?


	2. Chapter 2

Maria stayed at Erin and Nate’s place for the next couple days. The whole time, she was having nightmares. She couldn’t remember what the nightmares were about, but they were so surreal and tortuous that she couldn’t bear to go to sleep again. She tried to stay awake after she came home from Honolulu, but without sleep, she felt as if her brain was rotting away. She was desperate to try anything to stop these nightmares and/or start sleeping again before she lost her sanity.

One week, when it was starting to transition from summer to fall, Maria started stocking up on the most powerful sleeping pills she could find. One of the cashiers even claimed that a particular bottle of sleeping pills were enough to doze off a rhinoceros calf. Granted, he might have just been exaggerating, but could they really help her out?

Like with the scratcher, Maria decided to take a gamble with the sleeping pills. Anything to stop these damn nightmares. She wasn’t even sure what could be bringing on these goddamn night terrors other than just being within Nate’s vicinity. Then again, if that had been the case, they would’ve stopped when she got home. Maybe he’d hexed her somehow. That had to be the case, right? He hexed her before she left? Maybe it was best if she didn’t find out.

After taking half a bottle of sleeping pills, Maria decided to lay on her couch and wait for them to take effect. It didn’t take long, however, and she soon found herself asleep at last. It didn’t take much longer for her to start dreaming. 

She looked around, pleasantly surprised at her surroundings. She found herself in an open field, laying on top of a red plush 1970s couch that resembled a futon emblazoned with patterns of diamonds and hearts. What a strange pattern for a couch to have, she couldn’t help but observe. What did it matter, though? She was just going to forget about it when she woke up anyway. Might as well see what else was up while she was here.

“Hello?” Maria called out. “Anybody here?”

There was no immediate response. She decided to wait for a bit before she tried again.

“Hello?” she repeated. “Anybody here?”

She tried again for a few minutes before someone finally answered her.

“Don’t worry,” a disembodied voice assured her. “It's probably just something in the air.”

“H-How do you know...?” Maria was about to ask when a man materialized before her and shushed her.

“Trust me,” the man said. “I know.”

“O-Okay... I guess you’re right.”

Right after she said that, she spotted a black horse coming her way with a small capuchin monkey riding its back. Nothing about these animals seemed inherently strange, but the way they just stared at her with those dead eyes... Maria didn’t know what they could’ve wanted from her. She let them come to her. She clucked at the horse to come closer; it did so. The monkey then jumped off the horse and onto Maria's stomach.

“Can you tell me what’s going on here?” Maria asked the mystery man.

“Not really,” the man replied. “But the monkey can tell you.”

“Okay.” Maria focused her attention on the monkey. “Little monkey, can you tell me what's going on? Something’s been bothering me lately and I have no idea why.”

The monkey bared his fangs and hissed.

“Oh, don’t be so mean, little monkey,” the man chided the small primate. “She just asked you a question.”

“Oh...” the monkey just sounded. “Sorry. I thought I was trying to be funny. Like it matters anyhow. She’ll be one with us soon enough.”

Maria perked her head up and looked into the monkey’s red eyes. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

The monkey grinned sheepishly. “Oops. I spoke too soon.”

It was at that moment that Maria screamed. She tried to get away, but she found herself frozen, unable to move at all. Damn it. It must’ve been sleep paralysis that was starting to kick in. That was always a pain in the ass to deal with. She wasn’t sure what to do now, especially since she couldn’t move. All she could do was stare at that fucking monkey. With the way that monkey stared back at her, with nothing more than a playful grin stretching across his face with fangs out in the open, she couldn’t help but think he was mocking her somehow. While Maria and the monkey engaged in a staring battle, the black horse muttered something about using Maria to make the Antichrist.

“Wait, so that’s why I’m here?” Maria asked in confusion.

"Yes," the black horse replied matter-of-factly. "I see you’ve already acquainted yourself with that monkey, who happens to be my husband. We are from the depths of Hell and wish to have our leader impregnate you with his child."

“Wait, really?”

“Yes. I presume Natas didn’t introduce himself to you yet?”

“Who’s Natas? Oh! You meant that man who shushed me, right?”

“Yes, him. The one standing besides you.”

“But why does he want _me_ to have his baby? Why not want _Erin_ to carry his baby to term?”

But before the monkey or the horse could give an answer, Maria abruptly woke up. Finally, she was back in her own living room, on her own couch. As far as she could tell, she’d finally managed to sleep again. Hmm, how long had she been out? She decided to ask her Amazon Echo for the time.

“It’s 1:30 PM,” Alexa announced from the Echo.

“What?” Maria asked out loud. “Was I really out that long?”

She looked around, unsure what to do since she’d slept for twelve hours. Well, she finally got some sleep, but she hadn’t expected to be knocked out for that long. Plus, she was only trying to find a way to cure her insomnia or else get rid of her nightmares... and why did Natas want her to have his baby? Wait a minute... Natas. Natas... Nate. Nate was short for Natas, and Natas was just Satan spelled backwards. Had Erin actually been seduced by the devil himself? She had to warn Erin about this. But how?

She decided to call her best friend on the home phone.

“Hello?” she asked timidly. “Are you there?”

It took a minute before Erin responded. “Yeah. What’s up?”

“I... I just had this weird dream.”

“You did? What was it about?”

“Well...” Maria thought long and hard about what had happened in this strange dream. “Okay, so I was laying on this couch out on the field. I don’t remember what kind of field it was in, but I do remember there being nothing around for miles. I think the couch was also red and had diamonds on it.”

Pause. “Go on.”

“So then this weird man showed up. He looked just like Nate. In fact, I think it _was_ Nate, but I digress. He was there, and a black horse and a monkey were there and they were telling me how they wanted their leader to knock me up with his child.”

“Wha...? For real?”

“Yeah, it was strange. I don’t even know what they’d want to do with my child or why they’d want me to have it. I’ve been using birth control every year since I was 13 years old.”

“Maybe your dream was reminding you that your biological clock is ticking.”

“I guess, but I still don’t understand why Nate of all people would be there. Have you been having this dream, too?”

Erin thought about it for a second. “I guess so, but I don’t usually remember my dreams after I have them.”

“Oh... well, do you think Nate might be responsible for this dream I had?”

“Why do you think Nate caused the dream? It could’ve been just a coincidence.”

Maria let out a small chuckle. “Maybe you’re right. Well, it was nice talking to you, Erin. Have a good day.”

“You too, Maria.”

With that, Erin hung up. Now unsure of what to think, Maria decided to try to distract herself with some other things. Maybe do a little bit of gardening, taking a walk outside, anything to distract her thoughts even for a little bit.


	3. Chapter 3

A month had passed since the man she presumed to be the Devil, Natas, visited her in a dream. While Maria was somewhat relieved that she could sleep again, she was also feeling quite sick. For starters, she couldn’t keep anything down, and the vertigo-like nausea left her reeling constantly. She was hoping it was just a stomach bug, but based on what the mysterious man and the horse and the monkey had wanted of her _and_ Erin, it could’ve been... the anti-Christ itself. She’d have to get a pregnancy test later to find out. For now, she was just going to focus on trying to quell this damn bug or whatever it was.

Maria called up Erin to see if she was experiencing the same things as her. She knew by now that none of this could’ve been just mere coincidence. Whatever happened in that dream probably left her knocked up against her will. Didn’t she get a say in any of this? Why did mystical pregnancies always have to happen without consent? The Virgin Mary was only a child, a _child_, when she had Jesus.

“Hello?” Maria timidly spoke into her phone. “Erin, are you there?”

She could hear a yawn on the other side of the phone. “Yeah, what is it?”

“Oh, good, you’re up.” Maria looked up to the ceiling and cleared her throat. “Hey, how you been?”

“Not that good. I haven’t been feeling so well lately.”

“Me neither. I think I might have a stomach bug.”

“Really? Hey, when was the last time you got your period?”

“Almost two weeks ago today, why?”

“Because that’s how long _I’ve_ gone without that time of the month. I think we should both get ourselves tested. We could be pregnant.”

“That’s what I think, too. Okay, I’ll talk to you later. Let me know how that works out, okay?”

“Okay.”

With that, Erin hung up. Maria couldn’t believe it. What were the odds that both of them had missed their periods by almost two weeks? It had to have been just a coincidence, right? No, no, it wasn’t. At least Maria could be certain that she never had sex before this happened. What could be said about Erin, though? Erin was spending most of her free time with Nate these days, and most of that free time could’ve been spent fucking. Not that having sex before marriage was something to be ashamed of, of course. Still, to dismiss all of this as coincidence would be to dismiss that something more sinister was afoot.

* * *

Maria stopped by the gas station to buy a pregnancy test. She wasn’t sure what people were going to make of doing this, but no matter. She was going to get this done and she was going to get it done today. After she picked one out from a dozen or so boxes, she carried her pregnancy test (along with some other supplies) over to where the cashier was.

“Oh, hey, Maria,” the cashier greeted with no inflection to his voice. “I didn’t think you of all people might be pregnant. I thought you were saving yourself for marriage.”

“I was... well, I still am,” Maria replied sheepishly. “It’s a long story...”

“Oh, no problem. Let me just ring your stuff up for you.”

Once the cashier was finished with ringing up Maria’s items, Maria took them off the counter and left the gas station in a bit of a hurry. Once she got home, she ran straight for the bathroom and put that pregnancy test to good use. It felt like an eternity just waiting for the blue lines to materialize. She held her breath, expecting the worst that was to come.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the blue lines materialized at last. She then cried, seeing that the results were positive. Now what? She was pregnant with Natas’s child. She’d have to figure out something soon. Her first choice was to get an abortion, but she couldn't help but hesitate when it came up. It seemed like such an easy solution to her problem; just abort the embryo and then move on with her life. The second choice would be to carry to term and then give it up for adoption. The third choice would be to keep it and hope that nothing bad happened to her when the time came. Neither of the last two choices seemed to put her mind at ease, so she decided that her first choice would be the way to go. She’d try to schedule an appointment later that week.

Right after making her decision, Maria called up Erin and waited for her to answer. Erin picked up on the second ring.

“Hello?” Erin sounded while half-asleep.

“Hey, Erin,” Maria said. “I need to tell you something.”

“Yeah, me too. Why don’t you tell me first?”

“Alright.” Maria thought carefully of what to tell her best friend at first, but went instead with saying it outright. “Erin, I’m pregnant.”

Erin paused for a mere minute before she could finally speak again. “I was about to tell you the same thing.”

“Wait...” Maria took a minute before she fully realized what was happening. “We’re both pregnant?”

“Yep... and both by Nate.”

“How do you know Nate did this to us?”

“Oh, I found a way to convince him.”

“Really? How?”

“It’s a long story, but it involved a couple beers, Wikipedia, and Satanic rituals among other things.”

“Are you sure drinking beer while in your condition is such a good idea?”

“Oh, it’ll be fine as long as you don’t drink a whole lot. Anyway, I managed to get him to talk after a while and confess to everything.”

“Okay, so what do you think we should do now? I was considering maybe getting an abortion, so maybe we can try that.”

“I guess, but I don’t know if that’s gonna work exactly.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. Just a feeling, I guess.”

“Well, I’m still going to go through with it. I’ll talk to you later and let you know how it went.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Just like that, Maria hung up. She decided to lay down the couch and sleep it over. In what felt like two minutes, she had a dream. She found herself back in an open field, laying in the same red plush 1970s couch with the same horse and monkey staring at her that she’d encountered in the last dream she could remember.

“Hello?” she called out to the strange animals. “What am I doing back here?”

“You can’t do this, Maria,” the horse said. “Natas won’t allow it.”

“What are you talking about? I haven’t said anything yet.”

“We know you’re considering an abortion. We can’t let you do this. Natas won’t allow it.”

“Excuse me, but I’m going to get this abortion and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

The horse repeated herself. “You can’t do this, Maria. Natas won’t allow it.”

“Well, tough shit. I’m going to set up an appointment later this week and you can’t change my mind.”

“Oh yeah?” The horse brayed out for her monkey husband to come over. “We’ll see about that.”

At that moment, Maria woke up, now more determined than ever to get this abortion. For the rest of the week, she distracted herself with other things while the day of the appointment loomed near, waiting to creep up on her by surprise. She went out shopping for groceries, visited her parents, ate out at Arby’s with an old friend from high school, ran some errands for herself, and then spent time watching TV. The day before she was to get the abortion, she called up Erin one last time to make sure that she, too, would be following through with it.

“Hey, Erin,” Maria said. “Just wanted to call to see if you changed your mind about going to get that abortion. I’m all set to do it myself.”

Erin visibly gulped on the other line. “Yeah. I figured I might as well do it because otherwise, I could die if I don’t. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen anyway?”

“I know, right? All these pro-lifers think they know what’s best for all these people out there who find themselves pregnant and don’t know what to do... and honestly, they can fuck right off. Same with the Devil and his cohorts.”

“Yep. Alright, I guess I’ll talk to you later. I’ll let you know when this thing is done, alright?”

“Me too.”

“Alright, goodbye for now.” With that, Maria hung up. “Hopefully, everything will be okay.”

That night, she instantly fell asleep. She would’ve thought she’d be feeling more restless with the abortion being a day away. Oddly enough, however, she felt like she was at peace. It was almost like she already knew what was going to happen, and she was enjoying it. Soon, she found herself back in the dream world. There she was, back in the same fields she’d been in before, on the same couch with the same animals standing in front of her. She knew that, like last time, they were going to try to convince her to get an abortion and then she’d have to fight them and so on. What a bore. Might as well get it over with.

Maria just sighed. “Let me guess,” she said. “’You can’t do this, Maria. Natas won’t allow it.’ Am I in the ballpark here?”

“Oh, yes!” the horse replied gleefully. “How did you know?”

“That’s how it went last time. Seriously, you can’t change my mind on this. Ever. So would you please just go away before I make you? It’s getting old.”

“Oh, but we insist,” the monkey chimed in. “Getting this abortion will be the biggest mistake you’ve ever made.”

“Oh, really?” Maria asked with skepticism in her voice. “How so? Is the Antichrist going to burst out of me if I try to get it done?”

“Trust us. You don’t want to be getting one. Otherwise, you’ve got a big storm coming.”

“Really? Quoting a meme to try to get your point across? Lame.”

“Trust us. We know what we’re talking about.”

Maria woke up from the dream a few seconds later. She frantically looked around and wondered how long she’d been asleep.

“Alexa,” she uttered out loud to her Amazon Echo. “What time is it?”

“It’s 4:30 AM,” Alexa replied.

“4:30 AM, huh? Guess I better get back to sleep then.”

And just like that, she was out like a light again.

A few hours later, she was up, and she was ready to get the abortion that would get rid of the Antichrist. Hopefully, after that was over with, the nightmare would be over. No more visits from Natas, no more of that damn horse repeating herself like a broken record, no more of these bizarre fucking dreams. Just a fairly normal life from that point on.

After going through her daily morning routine, she went into her car and started up the engine. For some reason, however, it wouldn’t start. She tried to start up the engine again. Still wouldn’t start. Tried again. Still wouldn’t start. After a few minutes of trying to start the engine and failing, she got out and popped up the hood. She didn’t find anything suspicious at first, but then...

“Holy shit!” Maria yelled out before an explosion broke out and sent her flying back into the garage door.

The explosion left her ears ringing, her body aching, and her vision blurry. The last thing she saw before passing out was the silhouette of a man who looked an awful lot like Erin’s boyfriend Nate standing over her.


	4. Chapter 4

When Maria came to, she found herself in a twin-sized bed with some sheets overlaid on top of her. She had no idea where she was or what had happened to her, but she could at least be certain she knew who brought her here and why they’d brought her here. She looked around to see if anybody else was there. A bit to her surprise, Erin was laying next to her in another bed.

“Hey, Erin!” Maria yelled out to her.

“What?” Erin asked while slightly annoyed.

“Do you know where we are right now?”

“No, do you?”

“Well, do you at least know who brought us here?”

“I think it might have been Natas.”

“Well, that’s one thing we can agree on, but where is he?”

Just as Maria asked this, the widescreen television in the back of the room turned itself on. On the screen was none other than Natas himself.

“Hello, girls...” Natas greeted with a simper on his face. “Why don’t you make yourselves at home? You might be here for a while.”

“Excuse me?” Maria asked, somewhat shocked at what she’d just heard.

“You heard me. I’ve arranged to keep you and Erin here for eight months until it’s time for you to give birth to my children.”

“Like hell you are. The first thing I plan to do when I get out of this bed is to find the nearest sharp object and stab myself with it until I have a miscarriage.”

“Oh, I’d like to see you try...”

As soon as the last words left Natas’ lips, the television turned itself off.

“Oh God...” Erin muttered to herself. “What do we do now?”

“Obviously, we have to find a way to terminate our pregnancies somehow,” Maria replied with some confidence to her voice.

“Didn’t you say you were going to find the nearest sharp object and stab yourself with it until you had a miscarriage?”

“Yes, but I wasn’t actually planning to do it until we could actually see what’s in this room.”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s look for something to help us abort Natas’ babies.”

“Technically, I wouldn’t call them babies just yet. They’re more like clumps of cells at this point.”

“Save the semantics for when we’re not trying to save ourselves!”

Maria just sighed. “Fine.” She started getting up from her designated bed. “I can;t wait to get out of here and reunite with my parents. They’re probably worried sick since I haven’t called in God knows how many hours.”

“I bet my family feels the same way,” Erin concurred. “How could Nate just do this to us?”

“I don’t know, but there’s one thing I do know: if we actually give birth to these embryos eight months from now, we might die in the process. Alright, just right out of the corner of your eye, what do you see?”

Erin slightly tilted her head and glanced down at the checkerboard floor. “Nothing quite unusual, but something that looks a little like scissors.”

“Scissors? What would they be doing down there?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to see if I can stab myself with them.”

“Alright, while you do that, I’m looking for an abortifacient. Hopefully, whatever I can get my hands on will act fast...”

So while Maria began searching for some drugs that could induce an abortion, Erin began stabbing herself repeatedly in the area where her womb would be. Over and over, she stabbed herself with each wound progressively growing bloodier and bloodier, deeper and deeper. She didn’t care how much blood she was going to lose from all this. She just wanted this pregnancy terminated, and terminated it sure as hell would be. Just as it seemed like she would have to stop due to the blood loss, the wounds suddenly healed themselves.

“What the hell?” Erin muttered to herself. “Something’s not right here…”

Erin couldn’t believe what she’d just seen. Could it be that being pregnant with Natas’ child granted her demonic abilities?

Meanwhile, Maria had climbed up to a counter to rummage through some medicine cabinets. So far, her search for an abortifacient had been turning out for naught. Not a single damn drug seemed like they could easily do the job. It didn’t help that they didn’t have discernible brand names to tell them apart from one another. She decided to abandon the plan to search for the abortifacient in particular and just induce an overdose on whatever random drug she could find. She ended up picking the first drug that had caught her eye.

“A-ha…” Maria quietly exclaimed. “Maybe this will do…”

She looked over the bottle of drugs she was holding in her hand. Zyrtec. This must’ve contained the allergy medication that she saw commercials for. She’d never taken a large enough dosage of this or any other medication to trigger an overdose, accidental or otherwise, so she’d leave it to fate to see if she survived this or not. She gave her three times the recommended dosage and then waited for something to happen. While she waited, she turned to see how Erin had been doing.

“Erin?” Maria asked when she noticed the blood around her friend. “Where did all that blood come from?”

“It’s mine,” Erin replied. “I was stabbing myself with the scissors to see if I could abort the baby that way, but all of my wounds just healed up on their own.”

“Really? That’s strange.”

“Yeah. Do you think our babies gave us demonic powers?”

“What? No, of course not, don’t be ridiculous. There’s no way an unborn baby could be the source of their mother’s powers. There must be another explanation for this.”

“I guess, but—”

All of a sudden, Maria spotted a third girl stirring in her bed. She was surprised that it had taken her that long to wake up.

“Hey, Erin,” Maria said as she gestured towards the third girl.

“What?” Erin asked in confusion.

“Look over there.” Maria gestured towards the third girl again. “We’ve got company.”

Erin turned to see what Maria was pointing at. “We do? So wait, does that mean…?”

“Yeah, we’re not the only ones he did this to…”


	5. Chapter 5

“Hey…” the third girl muttered while slowly becoming more awake. “Can someone tell me what the heck is going on?” She looked over to see Maria and Erin staring right at her. “Who are you guys?”

Maria just cleared her throat and began. “So, uh… my name is Maria LaVey and this girl besides me is my friend Erin Walker. Erin and I were also impregnated by Natas. And you must be…?”

“Justine Hooper…” the third girl said. “I don’t know how or when I got here. The last thing I remember is going into an abortion clinic to terminate my pregnancy and then… I saw someone approach me with a lead pipe and everything went dark. What happened to you guys?”

Maria and Erin told Justine the whole story. They told her about their experiences with Natas, the dreams they had of him and his cronies, their plans to get abortions like Justine was supposed to, and even the last things they remembered before coming here. They told her how Natas wanted to keep them here for eight months until they gave birth to his children and how they planned to do everything in their power to abort their pregnancies. Justine could barely contain her distress at what she had just heard. She’d originally gone to get an abortion because she was only fifteen and her pregnancy had come about because she couldn’t consent. She hadn’t even realized that the man who’d violated her was actually Natas himself. With all of this information to process now, Justine began to cry.

“It’s okay...” Maria said in a soothing voice. “Everything will be fine...”

“No, it won’t…” Justine replied while still crying. “I’m not even sure we can get out of here.”

“Oh, come on,” Erin now chimed in. “You’re being ridiculous. Of course we’ll find a way out of here.”

As if right on cue, the television turned itself on again. There he was, that magnificent slimy bastard Natas. He just sat there on the screen, a smug grin plastered on his face. By the looks of it, he’d expected something to happen while he was gone. Maria wasn’t sure what he would’ve wanted from her or the other girls, but it probably wasn’t anything good.

“Hello, girls,” Natas began. “I have some news for you.”

“Wuh… what’s the news?” Erin asked, a falter in her voice.

“Do you want the good news first or the bad news?”

“I think I’ll take the good news first.”

“I thought so. The good news is that I’ll be sending someone down here to check on you. The bad news is… that person will not be helping you escape, assuming you were even thinking of doing so.”

“No, not at all.”

“Good. They shall be down here in a few. I’ll be contacting you later after you’ve gotten to know them. Goodbye.”

With that, the television shut off by itself. It was only then that Maria realized that the larger-than-usual dosage of Zyrtec she took wasn’t having any effect.

“Goddamn it…” Maria muttered loudly enough for Erin and Justine to hear.

“What is it?” Erin asked.

“That Zyrtec I took… it was supposed to either kill me or terminate my pregnancy, but it’s not doing anything.”

“Well, I’ll be damned.”

“Who knows when that medication’s been down here, though?” Justine pointed out. “Could’ve been so old that it wouldn’t work properly.”

“I guess that stands to reason…” Erin couldn’t help but agree. “But then why would he leave the medication for us to find?”

“Maybe to give us a false sense of hope?” Justine asked.

“Damn…” Maria muttered again. “We’ll have to figure out some other way to terminate our pregnancies. C’mon, we have to look around for something. Otherwise—-”

Before Maria could finish her sentence, someone new entered the room. From the looks of it, this individual was a doctor, a seasoned one at that. His face was angular and slender, his body equally so, and his hair was slicked back.

“Let me guess… you’re the one Natas warned us about?” Maria snarkily asked.

“Yes, thank you for asking,” the doctor replied cheerfully. “I’m the monkey you saw in your dreams… or as my wife likes to call me ‘Dr. Cebus.’”

“So then I guess your wife was the horse?”

“Right again. Now I think Natas already told me why you’re here, so I won’t go over it again. I will say, though, that while you’re here, I will be subjecting you to some videos explaining why you shouldn’t abort Natas’ children.”

“So you’re going to be subjecting us to pro-life videos where pro-lifers argue with a strawman version of a pro-choicer for thirty minutes?”

“If you wish to put it that way, then yes. Speaking of, I brought in the first pro-life DVD. It might not be much now, but hopefully, by the time you’ve sat through five of these, you’ll be more than eager to be good little incubators for Natas.”

“Fuck you. Like I’m going to buy into that bullshit.”

“Suit yourself.”

He placed the DVD into the DVD player, started it up, and then just walked away. Maria, Erin, and Justine could only look on in shock at what had just happened. Sitting through at least five pro-life videos, just to persuade to keep their pregnancies and eventually give birth to Natas’ children? As if the idea of being forced to carry to term wasn’t bad enough… Maria looked around the room to see if there was a phone she and the other girls could use to call for help. There was, but it was an old Garfield phone. Who knew if it was still working after all these years?

“Wait here…” Maria said. “I’m gonna try to call for help. Otherwise, we’ll figure some other way out.”

“Okay,” Erin and Justine simultaneously replied.

So Maria went over to the Garfield phone to call for help. She dialed the first number that came into her mind: her parents’ home phone number. She waited a bit. Ring, ring, ring. She waited a bit more. Ring, ring, ring. A bit more. Then… there was dead silence. She hung up.

“What happened?” Justine asked. “Did you get through?”

Maria shook her head. “No… I guess wherever we are doesn’t have good reception.”

“So what does this mean?”

“It means we’ll have to find another way to get help.”

“Can’t we just escape?”

“We can try, but who knows what Natas and Dr. Cebus might pull?”


	6. Chapter 6

Four months had passed since their capture. By this point, Maria, Erin, and Justine had all started showing. They’d tried everything they could to escape their prison, but nothing seemed to work so far. None of the medication had kicked in even when they’d tried inducing overdoses, none of the weapons they used had any permanent effects on them, and the room Natas had confined them to… well, whenever they made even a couple steps outside of it, they always blacked out and ended up back inside. They had no idea what was making them black out whenever they tried to leave the room, but did they really want to find out in the first place?

On top of all that, Dr. Cebus also made a habit of visiting them regularly and making them watch an anti-abortion video every time he visited. The girls tried their best not to give in to the rhetoric the videos tended to spew out, no matter how persuasive it was. However, up until now, Justine had found herself slowly becoming indoctrinated by the anti-abortion videos. Maria and Erin, however, stuck to their guns on their plan to abort their pregnancies. Who knew what would come about if these children of Natas were born?

“Hey, guys,” Justine called out to Maria and Erin while the latter two were discussing something. “Don’t you want to watch this video with me? It’s really interesting.”

“No thanks,” Erin replied with a tight smile. “Maria and I are in the middle of something.”

“Okay, suit yourself. I gotta say, they’re making really good points.”

Maria and Erin then went back to talking.

“Okay, so can we run through that plan again?” Erin asked. “I already forgot.”

“Alright,” Maria said. “So we’re going to summon Dr. Cebus and distract him. Then, while he’s distracted, we make our escape.”

“Okay, but how do we make sure we don’t black out once we get out the room?”

“Not sure, but I’m sure we’ll figure something out. Whatever it is, we’ll be ready for it.”

“I certainly hope so. I just want to go home. I miss my parents and siblings. Do you think our families miss us?”

“Pretty sure they do. We haven’t been able to make contact with them, but I want to believe they’re waiting for us to come back.”

“Alright…” Erin sighed. “Let’s do this.”

Maria and Erin pressed a button in the center of the table and contacted Dr. Cebus. Before a minute had even passed, the doctor was already in the room with them. They were somewhat surprised to see him already there.

“Hello, girls,” Dr. Cebus greeted. “I see you contacted me for something. What is it that you need?”

“Uh…” Erin began. “We wanted to see if our families missed us at all. Can you find a way to contact them? We tried and nothing happened.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Dr. Cebus walked over to the Garfield phone and began tinkering with its wiring. “Alright, I should have this thing ready in an hour or two. However, you can only use it to contact your loved ones and that’s it.”

“We know, Dr. Cebus.” Erin then looked over to Maria. “Okay, now’s our chance.”

“What about Justine?” Maria asked quietly. “We can’t forget about her.”

“She’s not going to listen to us right now. She’s already becoming pro-life. It’s going to have to be us right now.”

“Good point.” Maria slowly got up and started heading for the door. “Got to do this quietly… quietly.”

All it took to unlock the door was picking at the lock with just a bobby pin. That probably wasn’t the best way to keep the prisoners locked in. Now they’d made it out… again. The further away from the door the girls strayed, the darker it grew as they got closer to the other end. Now it was complete and utter darkness where they were.

“Geez, it’s a little dark in here…” Erin muttered. “I wonder if this was such a good idea after all.”

“We can’t turn back now,” Maria said. “It’s too risky. Besides, we have to make sure whatever kept us from going far before doesn’t stop us now.”

“You’re right. Now if only we had lights in here…”

“We’ll have to do without them. The point is to try to escape before we’re caught.”

All of a sudden, something tackled them to the ground.

“Shit!” Maria yelled. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Erin replied. “It’s happening again. We have to hurry up!”

They picked up speed, trying their damndest to get away from whatever was attacking them. So many thoughts ran through their minds as they ran and ran towards the other side. What the heck was this thing? Why did it keep attacking them? How did they keep ending up back in their room? Was it this unknown thing that was doing this? They tried to shake whatever it was off of them, but to no avail. Soon, they blacked out... again.

* * *

When they came to, they found themselves bound up in some sturdy rope and sitting on the couch next to Justine, who was happily eating popcorn while she watched the pro-life video playing before her. How did their escape attempts always seem to fail? They’d been so close this time... and then it all came crashing down.

“So...” Dr. Cebus began. “I see you two tried to escape again.”

“How do you keep thwarting our escape plans?!” Erin asked in frustration. “It’s like each time, we’re closer than before... but then something stops us. Why can’t we leave?”

“If we let you leave, then you’d tell people what Natas was up to,” Dr. Cebus simply replied. “Then we’d have to find another way to stop you before you said too much.”

Maria and Erin could only look at each other with skepticism. He couldn’t be serious. Surely, he was just bluffing.

“Oh yeah?” Maria asked in a sassy tone. “And how exactly would you try to stop us?”

“We have our methods...” Dr. Cebus replied vaguely.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“It doesn’t need to...” Dr. Cebus just chuckled to himself. “Besides, we still have some time...”


End file.
